Van der Wiel about panic attacks after career: ‘Mind and body were given time’ | Football

sport">“I actually don’t remember much of all the beautiful experiences I’ve had,” says the former right back who was in the World Cup final with the Orange squad. “That’s a bit of a shame, but I also think that says a lot about how my mind was at that time. I was only on that express train to perform, to get better. Also with matches like the World Cup final, I don’t think I was aware of how beautiful it was, how important, how big. I just went with the flow and played my games. Now in retrospect I think: ‘I should have enjoyed more, felt more.’”

“I actually don’t remember much of all the beautiful experiences I’ve had”

sport">34-year-old Van der Wiel thinks that this is related to the panic attacks after his career. “They actually only came out of nowhere six months after I quit. I think it has to do with that train I was on, for years I was just performing. I’m not one to let things fall off easily.”

sport">“It wasn’t, ‘Okay, I’m playing football now and I’ll forget about it later.’ No, if it didn’t go well, it stayed with me,” emphasizes the former player of Ajax, Paris Saint-Germain and Fenerbahçe. “I think when I stopped playing football for a while and my mind and body got time to process it, it manifested itself in panic attacks. And later feeling anxious in me and that my body was completely stuck.”

sport">Now that his career is over, Van der Wiel hopes to be of value to young people. “I think I can help with my experiences, both on and off the field, as well as financially, as well as mental health. It wasn’t easy for me in the youth of Ajax either. I was sent away when I was fourteen and yet I came back. So I’m going to see if I enjoy helping them and if I can contribute.”

Bayern Munich

sport">Van der Wiel also talked about the reason that he did not go to Bayern Munich in 2010. “I was young, came from Amsterdam and I didn’t like Germany much. I do not know why. I just had nothing to do with Germany. Afterwards you think: ‘Was I crazy or something?’ Bayern Munich is one of the best, biggest clubs in the world. But then I was young, my world was not that big and there was no one to convince me. So I just said, ‘No, thanks.’”

—